Rob,
I agree with you about evening low band round tables needing some level of high power. Better yet, NO long winded transmissions for those running < 250 watts!!! My example though was mid afternoon on 40M, 7160...usually the perfect time for lower power.
Last night at 11 pm I tuned to 7160, and it was DX frequency with no less then 50 stations calling at once, likely to a station down the band. So I try 7290, and there was a Chinese station on 7295 that was spraying sideband energy +/- 10 Khz. Boy was that strong. I camped out at 7288, and called a few CQ's. The lower sideband from that 7295 station was down enough until the chanting began, or is that singing?...then off to bed without any answers.
Jim
WD5JKO
________________________________
From: Rob Atkinson <ranchorobbo at gmail.com>
To: Jim Candela <jcandela at prodigy.net>
Cc: "amradio at mailman.qth.net" <amradio at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2013 8:56 AM
Subject: Re: [AMRadio] AMRadio Digest, Vol 118, Issue 24
>> It's tough down there! A few months ago I was in a round table on 7160 on a Saturday afternoon, about 3 PM. One of the guys was PW, and as Ozona Bob used to say, "the weaker they are the longer they talk". He was referring to Rick K8MLV (SK). Anyway, a SSB QSO started up on frequency. Then comes my turn to transmit. So I did, while running more soup, I talked a good 5 minutes. After turning it over it seems about 5 sideband guys were defending their frequency now, and had the amplifiers on. We kept going while receiving on USB.
>
I don't wan't to bash low power, but this is why it's kind of nice in
the evening, if everyone in a roundtable group is running a few
hundred watts.
I was listening to a QSO last night on either 3880 or 3885, can't
remember which, and it was progressing nicely, with one op running a
HT-37, not super high power but the two stations were close enough to
have reliable copy. I was enjoying mail reading while moving thigns
around in the shack and other chores. Out of nowhere comes a loud
blasting digital hash that just about wiped out the HT-37. I don't
know if it is a ham or what, but if it is a ham, these digital voice
or SSTV or whatever they are, seem to just fire up and go with no care
to the current use of a frequency, and they don't ID in an analog way,
like a CW ID now either. I wonder if this is some kind of HF digital
D-Star or APRS automatic thing. It is pretty outrageous.
73
Rob
K5UJ